Tournament organizers have long reserved the right to have a hand in the Thursday / Friday pairings to appeal to the spectators and more importantly TV..
That's why Tiger is nearly always on when you tune in...
Sometimes they will pair majors winners together, sometimes the top amateur will get a plum pairing, sometimes nationality will be considered, but always the rabbits are off early and late...
This week in Dubai, none of this applies.. The European tour officials have paired the guys up in order from 60-1 so McDowell and Kaymer who are in a 2 horse race for player of the year, are in the last group..
They are 9 hours ahead of EST so more late night early morning reporting for me, so please look me up early with the scores and stories...
1 07:30 HANSEN Søren AIKEN Thomas
1 07:40 EDFORS Johan DERKSEN Robert-Jan
1 07:50 BJÖRN Thomas BOURDY Grégory
1 08:00 FRASER Marcus ROCK Robert
1 08:10 STENSON Henrik BOYD Gary
1 08:20 PARRY John WOOD Chris
1 08:30 RAMSAY Richie WILSON Oliver
1 08:40 KJELDSEN Søren RUMFORD Brett
1 08:50 GARRIDO Ignacio GARCIA Sergio
1 09:00 JACQUELIN Raphaël DONALDSON Jamie
1 09:15 NOH Seung-yul JAIDEE Thongchai
1 09:25 LAWRIE Peter YANG Y. E.
1 09:35 MAYBIN Gareth MCGRANE Damien
1 09:45 FDEZ-CASTAÑO Gonzalo CAÑIZARES Alejandro
1 09:55 DYSON Simon CLARKE Darren
1 10:05 HORSEY David MANASSERO Matteo
1 10:15 LUITEN Joost HAVRET Grégory
1 10:25 GALLACHER Stephen KHAN Simon
1 10:35 GOOSEN Retief WILLETT Danny
1 10:45 KARLSSON Robert HANSEN Anders
1 11:00 GREEN Richard ANDERSSON HED Fredrik
1 11:10 HARRINGTON Padraig DAVIES Rhys
1 11:20 QUIROS Alvaro HANSON Peter
1 11:30 DONALD Luke FISHER Ross
1 11:40 MCILROY Rory CASEY Paul
1 11:50 MOLINARI Edoardo OOSTHUIZEN Louis
1 12:00 SCHWARTZEL Charl JIMÉNEZ Miguel Angel
1 12:10 POULTER Ian ELS Ernie
1 12:20 MOLINARI Francesco WESTWOOD Lee
1 12:30 MCDOWELL Graeme KAYMER Martin
Right off the bat I see lot's of intrigue...
Kaymer vs McDowell with Kaymer holding a 230,000 euro lead but with over 900,000 euro as a first prize these 2 will settle the Race to Dubai winner, no one else can catch them... However...
Lee Westwood is rested, fit and is the world #1... Francesco Molinari can cap off a dream year..Ian Poulter is red hot and won last week..Luke Donald has travelled the world this year, will the English bulldog finally have his day in the sun...
Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey... McIlroy won his first pro event here as a 19 year old and has been in the mix all through the far east swing and Paul Casey wants to wrap up a long year ( it seems like years ago he and Louis Oosthuizen battled it out at St Andrews then a week later Ian Hutchison and I chatted with him at St Georges)
Watch for Simon Dyson who played well enough to win last week and may this..
As I wrote earlier this is a week of great celebration on this tour.. 3 majors winners and a Ryder Cup not to mention a world #1 is unbelievable..
Today there was a special presentation... ( courtesy europeantour.com)
US PGA Champion Martin Kaymer, US Open Champion Graeme McDowell and Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen have been presented with European golf’s highest award of Honorary Life Membership of The European Tour.
More to follow
Bryan Angus bryanangus4@gmail.com
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